For more than seven weeks, Canadians have basked in the reflected glow of one of their own — astronaut Chris Hadfield — as he’s orbited Earth, demonstrating his prowess as an expert communicator in addition to his skills as a scientist and extraterrestrial navigator.

No astronaut has done what Hadfield has done.

Set aside, for a moment, the fact that he was the first Canadian to operate the vaunted Canadarm, without which the American shuttle missions could not have been successful and the International Space Station could not have been built.

Leave aside, for another moment, the fact that Hadfield has twice been a spacewalker, the first Canadian to leave a spacecraft and float freely above Earth. Or that, in March, he will become the first astronaut of neither American nor Russian nationality to command the ISS — so trusted and respected is he within the international scientific community.

Apart from all that, Hadfield has became a free-floating proponent of science and education: appearing on live TV, “dropping” a ceremonial puck from space, answering questions from schoolchildren in real time, tweeting a running commentary along with spectacular photos from orbit and, this week, recording a song titled I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing?) from space with Barenaked Ladies lead singer Ed Robertson and a Toronto glee club.

What most Canadians don’t yet appreciate, however, is that once Hadfield hands over control of the space station to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and returns from orbit in May, that’s it. Canada’s presence on the international stage of space science and exploration will be reduced to a faint blip.

Were it not for the fact that British Columbia-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates last month inked a seven-year, $706-million contract with the Canadian Space Agency to build three satellites to keep an eye on Canada’s coastal areas, Arctic waterways and other strategic zones, it would be hard to argue that the country will have much of a space program at all.

Despite the fact that Canada has been in space for 50 years — we were the world’s third space nation — the country’s space agency has been directionless for a decade. Space has been a low priority for both Liberal and Conservative governments since the 1990s.

That strategic drift has meant many of Canada’s space scientists have departed to work in those countries that have more clearly outlined their national ambitions and long-term plans for space science.

And earlier this month, former astronaut Steve MacLean quit as head of the Canadian Space Agency — six months before the end of his mandate — to take up a position with a quantum physics-related venture in Waterloo.

One industry analyst said MacLean was “voting with his feet” after years of frustration with Ottawa’s lack of direction.

A report by former cabinet minister David Emerson in November, commissioned by the Conservative government a year ago, was clear about the challenges Canada faces and highlighted the dangers of inaction.

“Space is becoming ever more essential to modern economies and national security,” Emerson wrote, noting that Canada’s “vast geography, dispersed population, isolated communities, long coastlines, rich endowment of natural resources, and northern location has a particular need for space assets and applications.”

His 35 recommendations, spread over the report’s two volumes, offered a list of practical and pragmatic reasons for bolstering the country’s space planning.

Among the recommendations: that the Canadian Space Agency receive increased, predictable funding; that the country’s space agenda get a yearly once-over at the cabinet level; and that a high-level advisory council be formed with representation from industry, research and academic circles, as well as both provincial and federal levels of government.

In terms of economic prosperity and long-range planning, the Harper government has many things right. Canada needs to bolster the capacity of its energy infrastructure. It needs pursue trade agreements with Pacific Rim countries and Europe to diversify the customer base for our exports. Canada should seize the opportunity provided by competent management through the current recession to put the country’s finances on a solid footing, years ahead of what other nations may be able of doing.

But it should also look to space research, development and a reinvigorated national space program to protect Canada’s security interests and lead the way in the development of remote-sensing, environmental monitoring and other commercially viable technologies — aims for which Canada’s history in space has well prepared us.

Countries such as China, India, Germany and others have grasped this reality well — that space-related government and commercial activity will be keys to future security, technological advances and an important piece of economic prosperity. It would be a mistake if Canada failed to recognize it, leaving the memory of Hadfield as the historic apogee of a nation that let its national space aspirations fizzle.